Chapter 70

After that day, the white-eyed little monkey stayed and couldn't be driven away. At first, Mango and the other four monkeys were still hostile towards it, but over time, they gradually accepted it.

Xu Mo named it White Eye based on its distinctive feature.

When the old monkey's family found out that the white-eyed little monkey had been taken away, they came to confront Mango's family, almost leading to another fight. Fortunately, Xu Mo discovered it in time and stopped them.

He gave the old monkey's family several jars of homemade mango wine and some natural wine from the tree hollow, which calmed the situation down.

However, after the old monkey's family tasted Xu Mo's homemade wine, how could they still care about the natural wine from the tree hollow?

This monkey also knew how to be grateful. After receiving Xu Mo's homemade mango wine, the next day it brought peaches, mulberries, grapes, and two other monkeys to thank him.

Xu Mo was not stingy. He went up the mountain to catch mountain chickens and wild rabbits, and caught two fresh fish from the river. He cooked them in various ways—steamed, boiled, and roasted—and served them as a feast.

These wild monkeys had never tasted such delicious food before. After just one bite, they were delighted and started to eat like mad, lying on the ground unable to move after eating their fill. When they left, they still looked back, reluctant to leave the earthenware pots and bowls they had used for the meal.

After enjoying the food, they returned just one day later with lemons, oranges, dragon fruits, and even a large jackfruit.

It was unclear where they found the jackfruit. They didn't know how to eat it, but seeing its spiky, menacing appearance, they thought it was a good thing and brought it to offer to Xu Mo.

This time, the entire family came. It seemed that after the old monkey's family returned, they boasted about the delicious food they had eaten at Xu Mo's place to the other monkeys.

The jackfruit was very heavy, weighing at least thirty to forty pounds. It was carried by four adult monkeys, who were panting heavily from the effort.

When they reached Xu Mo, the old monkey pointed to the jackfruit and chirped at Xu Mo as if showing off a treasure.

Xu Mo smiled and accepted it, breaking open the jackfruit, taking out the fruit flesh, and sharing it with the monkeys. He then cooked a meal to entertain them.

The old monkey's family loved the food Xu Mo made. From then on, they would bring fruit to visit him every few days, eating and drinking without restraint, and Xu Mo didn't mind at all.

The valley where they lived had a complex terrain and a wide variety of fruits, unlike the more limited selection where Xu Mo and Mango's family lived. Additionally, the old monkey's family deliberately tried to please him, bringing mostly rare fruits. These fruits were either sour or sweet, and many were fruits Xu Mo had never even heard of. However, he was not greedy, and most of the fruits ended up in the stomachs of Mango's family.

As the saying goes, "A full belly makes one soft," and this applied to the monkeys as well. After eating the food brought by the old monkey's family, Mango's family gradually stopped being hostile. Sometimes, when Xu Mo was not around, they would even share the meat soup they made with the old monkey's family.

The old monkey's family came more and more frequently, eventually staying in the valley where Xu Mo lived.

With nothing to do, Xu Mo had the two families of monkeys pick mulberries and grapes, and he brewed two types of wine. The mulberries were a good traditional Chinese medicine, capable of nourishing yin, replenishing blood, and moistening dryness. Xu Mo added some auxiliary herbs, enhancing the medicinal properties to the fullest.

He lived a carefree life, accompanied by a group of monkeys, free from the various troubles of the secular world, and rarely thought about the outside world.

However, one day, a car suddenly drove into the mountains and stopped outside the valley. The car could not go further, so it turned off the engine. Two men got out of the car.

These were two middle-aged men, both around thirty years old, wearing the same style of grayish-white clothes with a pattern of an orchid on the right chest. They wore the same style of brown hiking boots, which seemed to be a company uniform. Both were tall and strong, at least 1.9 meters tall, and weighed at least 200 pounds.

The driver looked older, with a small beard and deep wrinkles on his forehead when he opened his eyes wide.

After getting out of the car, they looked into the distance. One of them suddenly said, "Is this really the place? Are we sure we haven't made a mistake?"

The driver took out a GPS navigator and looked at it, responding, "The address given by the boss is around here. It shouldn't be wrong."

The other man added uncertainly, "I hope so."

The driver said, "Let's go in and see. The signal is coming from here, so it should be hiding in the nearby valley."

The other man nodded but then frowned, looking worried, and said, "It has been away for so long; it must have mutated by now."

The driver sighed, "It's hard to say," but his tone was full of concern.

The other man continued, "If it has mutated, it won't be easy for just the two of us to capture it."

The driver was silent, his brows deeply furrowed. After a long pause, he said, "The boss has arranged it this way. There's no choice but to go in and do our best."

He paused, then added, as if trying to comfort the other man or himself, "What's the point of worrying too much? We won't know if it has mutated until we see it."

The other man nodded in agreement and added, "You're right, but it's better to be cautious." He patted his waist, where a bulge clearly indicated a handgun.

The driver opened the car trunk, took out two large backpacks, gave one to the other man, and closed the trunk. He said, "Let's go into the mountains. The thing is hiding so well that it has only shown itself once in so long, and the tracking device inside it is blocked, so the signal can't get through. This time, it might take us at least ten to fifteen days to find it."

The other man took the backpack, which was quite heavy. He patted it and put it on, saying, "Fortunately, we brought a lot of food. Otherwise, if we can't find it in ten days, we might have to go back to buy more."

The driver laughed, "Don't worry about food. From the satellite images, this mountain is full of fruit trees. When the food runs out, we can pick fruit, and if we get tired of fruit, we can hunt. We won't go hungry."

As they spoke, they walked quickly, their long legs and strong builds allowing them to move swiftly despite the backpacks. After more than two hours, they crossed the mountain and reached the valley where Xu Mo lived.

The driver held the navigator in his hand, looking at it as they walked. When they entered the valley where Xu Mo lived, he suddenly said, "Hmm," and stopped.

The other man, seeing this, asked urgently, "What did you find?"

The driver looked around and said, "The navigator shows that the signal is coming from somewhere around here."

"Already found it?" The other man was surprised but also became tense. Clearly, he had to find something for the mission but was afraid to see it.

The driver smiled bitterly, "Found it? Not so easy! We've only confirmed that the signal was transmitted from this area. After so long, who knows if it has left."

The other man's expression didn't change much, but he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. After a moment, he said, "In that case, let's find a place to set up camp."

The driver nodded, "Good idea. If it has mutated, we won't find it quickly. We'll set up a tent and search slowly."

They walked deeper into the mango grove, looking for a suitable place to camp.

Soon, they saw the shelters Xu Mo had built for the monkeys.

The two men were surprised, stopping and looking at each other. The driver said, "There's actually someone here!"

The other man was even more puzzled, "Who would live here?" He suddenly thought of something and said to the driver, "Could it be..."

He stopped after three words, but the driver clearly understood what he meant and immediately shook his head, "Impossible."

The other man, still uncertain, said, "Let's go check." He reached for his gun, his expression tense.

The driver nodded. They looked around suspiciously, making sure nothing was following them, before approaching the shelters.

As they got closer, they saw Xu Mo's hammock and the earthen stove nearby, along with the earthenware pots and bowls.

They walked to the stove, and the driver bent down, grabbing a handful of ashes from the bottom. He rubbed it in his hand and said, "It's still warm. Someone was here recently. It seems someone really does live here, but I wonder where they are."

The other man looked around again and called out, "Is anyone here? Is anyone here?"

Suddenly, a mango fell from a tree and hit him on the head. He was startled and shouted, "Who's there?"

He quickly stepped back, drew his gun, and looked up, ready to shoot.

The driver, however, had already seen what was happening and stopped him, "Don't shoot, it's just a monkey."

The other man then saw a monkey standing on a branch of the mango tree, pointing at them with one hand and holding a mango in the other, making faces at them.

——

PS: Thanks to Long Jian Tian Xia Xing for the tip.

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